Another girl knight
by Reanie Campal
Summary: Selena is not a tomboy but she wants to leave the convent....so she runs away and right into the rogue. THey help her on her way and ....I suck at summeries just check it out. Please.
1. Chapter 1

Tamora Peirce Fan Fic

Tamora Peirce Fan Fic. Selena

Summery: A thirteen year old girl, with a gentle nature. Her family are the main protection for the north, from the Scanra. When she was at home her serving maid taught her to handle a knife, to protect herself and a servant taught her to shoot, and helped her keep practicing. When her parents first decided to send her to the convent she was happy. She believed that any way to get away from home was good, but after 2 years she was sick of it. When she was sent back the summer of her third year, she decided to get away. She didn't know what she was going to do except that she wanted to stay away from home, and get out of the convent. Her name is Selena and her story starts on a Tuesday night in November (2nd Tuesday in November) …..(lol so story like, NOT, Hahaha)

Beginning:

Selena hurries down the empty streets of Corus, her long brown hair trailing behind her. She is dressed in a heavy skirt and shirt, with her riding boots on. As she runs she watches the windows and when she finally sees an inn she goes in. The minute she walks in she realized she shouldn't have stopped there. Many, many people are seated at the tables and everyone is loud. She watches them for a minute before a tall woman steps in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" The woman asks. Selena ignores her thinking 'isn't it obvious.' She trys to walk by the woman but the woman stops her saying "Wait one minute, tell me what you are doing here"

"You don't want to know" Selena replies sighing. The woman smile

"Just one moment and I'll come help you." She walks over to a lone table by the fireplace and starts talking to a man seated in the chair. Though she can't hear the conversation, Selena knows for sure they are talking about her. She starts to panic wondering if the convent had realized she was gone yet. Suddenly she feel someone try to lift her purse from her side. She quickly pulls a dagger from her other side and whips around holding it against the thief's throat. It is a tall man of about twenty with black hair and green eyes has her dagger to his throat. 'Is everyone around here tall' Selena thinks, aloud she says

"Give me all the money you took".

"I didn't have the time to take anything, Miss" He replies, putting two fingers on her dagger and lowering it.

"Fine, keep it, but at least help me get a room for the night" she replies, putting her dagger in it's sheath.

"Certaintly Miss, Thank you" He replies bowing mockingly to her. She laughs and copies his bow

"Your welcome" She says. The man then walks away leaving Selena to find a table. Eventually she finds a table with three chairs that is unoccupied. She sits down and looks around the room carefully. She finally spots the woman she had talked to crossing the room to her.

"Are you buying a room than?" The woman asks

"Actually, I had the liberty of stealing one for her" The man says walking up

"it wasn't a liberty, none at all" Selena says

"Sure it was"

"So why did you come here of all places?" The woman asks, getting right to her point.

"It was the first inn I saw."

"Guess you don't travel the city much" The Woman remarks walking over to the table by the fire again.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Selana asks the man.

"Obviously you don't know the city, the better inns are closer to the wall." He says

"Oh" After a couple of minutes of silence the girl says "Where is my room?"

"I'll show you" Selena stands "But only if you tell me your name" Selena starts to reply then shuts her mouth

"Why?" She asks suspiciously

"No reason, I just like to know the names of the people I meet."

"Well I'm sorry but, this is one person you won't know their name" She walks toward the fireplace, to talk to the woman.

"Sorry, you can't go over there" The man says standing in front of her quickly

"Why?" The girls asks her eyes narrowed

"That man does not liked to be crossed" He lies, and Selena hears the lie. She sighs again, then turns to the stairs

"I suppose my room is upstairs."

"Yes" The man replies leading the way. He opens the door for he and gives her the key. Before she closes the door he says "If I tell you my name will you tell me yours" Selena shrugs

"Probably not"

"Worth a try. I'm Marc" The man replies.

"Goodnight" Selena replies closing the door. Marc frowns and goes downstairs again as Selena lights the candle with fire from her hand and prepares for bed. When she is all set she says one word and the candles go out.

The next morning she goes downstairs and see some of the same people from the night before in the room. She ignores them and gets some breakfast. Marc comes in as her food is ready.

"You still owe me a name" Marc says sitting down, and stealing some food.

"Not really, I never agreed to tell you my name"

"Fine, then I won't tell you why two guards were here this morning" Selena gulps and pushes her food away

"Why would I need to know?"

"I don't know, you tell me"

"I have to go" She stands and hurries from the inn. ( yes, her room was paid in full the night before.) After she leaves the woman walks over

"It's definitely her" Marc says to the woman

"Then follow her"

"Right" He hurries out after Selena.

Selena wanders until she sees a stable, so she can buy a horse. She walks up and down the stalls until one brown horse nudges her hand. She goes into it's pen and looks it over as her servants did, and noticed that it had a deep black mane and black fur around its hoofs.

"You are a beauty aren't you" She says petting it.

"That she is" The store owner says. After she buys all the necessities(Cheaply) for the horse and the horse itself , Selena gets aquatinted (You know blow air into the horses nose) Then leads the horse out. She wanders some more, gently leading the horse until she finds a stand with dry food. She buys some and puts it into her saddlebag. After that she heads for the gate. As she heads by the gate she trys to keep the guards from seeing her face. She thinks it worked until a guard stands in front of her

"Where are you headed?"

"Out of the city"

"Why are you leaving?"

"It's my business, not yours"

"I'm not the one who wants to know, the convent does"

"I don't care I am leaving anyway." Selena tries to go around the soldier

"Sorry, we have orders not to let you leave" Another soldier says approaching, and taking her horses reins. She makes a grab for the reins and the first soldier puts his hand on her shoulder

"Calm down" He says

"Get your hand off me" She replies elbowing him in the stomach, and kicks the other soldier in the shin. They both fall and she grabs the horse reins, jumping on a soldiers back to mount.

" Charge" She says softly and the horse takes off through the gate.

She rides until she reaches the forest then she dismounts and leads her horse through the woods to a clearing, by a stream. She unsaddles the horse and leads it to the stream. As the horse drinks she pets it, studying it.

"How would you like your name to be Wind?" The horse ignores her

"Lightning, Racer" The horse still ignores her. 'OK I need to think realistically'. She closes her eyes and leans her head on the horses flank. After a couple of minutes she smiles

"Fierce" she says. The horse lifts it's head

"You want to be called Fierce" The horse neighs

"Then Fierce it is." She hugs Fierce around the neck. She washes herself in the stream then leads Fierce back to the camp. She eats some fruit, and gives Fierce some oats. She lets Fierce lay down and she lays with her head on his stomach.

She wakes up when her head slams into the ground.

"Fierce why di.." She stops as she sees Marc sitting with her bags and facing her. Selena stands putting her hand on Fierce's nose and softly stroking it to calm him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to keep your supplies from running out, especially if you are going all the way to the Scanra border"

"What?" She says trying to stay calm 'How does he know?' she thinks

"You heard me clearly, if your planning on going home, you need a lot more supplies."

"Well, I'm not going home" She quickly adds "I don't even live near the Scanra border"

"Really" Marc says sarcastically.

"Yes" Selena walks over and takes her bag from Marc thinking quickly. "I live near Galla."

"Then you are taking the wrong road" He responds taking her bag again

"I told you I'm not going home"

"Then why are you heading that way" Marc asks trying to catch her off guard.

"Because their is a town by my home I can hide in" She blurts out. She suddenly hears what she said and takes her bag again, going over to Fierce. "Just leave me alone, I can handle myself."

"Really, you plan to hide for the rest of your life."

"No I am going to become a knight"

"Then why are you running away"

"Because I can"

"That won't help you become a knight Selena" Selena is surprised for a moment because he knows her name then she says

"I'll think of some way"

"Well then think of it now" Selena stops and turns to Marc

"Why? You don't need to know"

"Actually I do"

"No you don't"

"I could easily bring you back to the convent"

"Yah, How?" She says sarcastically but she is worried too. She turns around. As she is turned Marc comes up behind her. Selena moves for her dagger and Marc grabs it first. She goes to turn and Marc takes a step closer, bringing the hand with the dagger around and holding the dagger to her neck. Selena makes a move to grab his arm and he moves the dagger closer.

"I could take you like this"

"Fine you proved your point, now move and give me my dagger"

"Not until you agree to come back to the city with me."

"Why?"

"I can help you become a knight" Forgetting the dagger Selena turns, and the dagger cuts her. She stops and lifts her hand to the cut. Marc steps back and drops the dagger, and his right hand glows green. He moves forward to heal Selena and he sees that she is already healed. He stands puzzled for a minute.

"How can you help me?" Selena asks the notices he is watching her. "What?"

"How are you healed? Do you have the Gift?"

"Duh" She lift her hand and a reddish purple fire glows on her palm. Marc relaxes and picks up the dagger, giving it to her.

"I'm sorry about that, anyway I can help you get in, even late."

"How?"

"A letter"

"What?"

"If a letter can be written to Lord Wyldon, requesting you to start late you can."

"But, they don't want girls"

"Whether they want one or not, there is a girl page there now."

"Really!!"

"Yes, Lord Wyldon should let you in, if the letter is convincing."

"Then I should write it soon" She goes over to her bags

"You don't have paper do you" Marc says after she rummages in her bag for a couple of minutes.

"No I don't"

"Come stay with my friend and me, you can stay until you join the pages."

"But how will I get the letter."

"You can deliver it in person, and wait for the response."

"Wouldn't that seem weird."

"Well work out the details later, we should get to the city now"

"Then let's go" Selena finishes saddling her horse and Marc walks out of the clearing. He comes back leading his own horse. They take off for the city at a trot. After awhile Marc turns to Selena.

"So why don't you want to go to the convent or go home"

"My parents think I should be a lady because all my older sisters were, and the ladies at the convent believe so as well."

"Okay, where did you learn to control a dagger like that, or your magic."

"Well, my lady in waiting taught me about the dagger when she found that no one would be riding with me to and from the convent each year."

"Why not?"

"All my brothers have their duties as knights and my father and mother are always busy helping to teach the servants how to defend the border."

"So your the borders only defense."

"Yes, that's how I also know how to heal and shoot."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was 9 we were attacked and they took out our only healer. My father gathered everyone with the gift afterwards and taught them how to heal and defend themselves while healing. I only watched so I didn't learn correctly but I still know it."

"And you can shoot the bow and arrow?"

"Yes, one of the servants taught me and practiced with me when the house was almost raided once. He also taught us some basic ways to defend ourselves."

"Really"

"Yes, like If I really wanted to before, I could have flipped you over my shoulder, but for one you would have hit Fierce and you had a dagger."

"I see" They are silent. when they are almost there Selena breaks the silence.

"How did you find out so much about me?"

"I have my ways"

"Fine, who told you to follow me"

"Can't tell you"

"Tell me something then"

"Okay, I am a thief of the Rogue"

"Are you serious"

"As serious as I can be"

"That explains a lot." They are silent again. When they get to the house Marc was talking about, Selena sees it is a small little house with a small stable. After Fierce is all set they go in. Marc introduces her to Thomas, who is tall with brown hair and lively eyes, and they eat some supper. Then Marc leaves and Thomas shows her to a small guest room. She prepares for bed and finds some paper on the desk. She begins to write the letter for Lord Wyldon, making sure that it sounds like her father. After she is done she brings the letter to Thomas. After he reads it he gives her a few tips to rewrite it and then she goes to bed.

When she wakes up in the morning she washes her arms and face, changes into some clothes from Thomas (yes, a skirt)then rewrites the letter. Then she writes a letter to the convent in her fathers handwriting saying that she is staying at home now. When that is all set she grabs some fruit from the kitchen and when she finds Thomas she informs him that she is going to deliver the letters. Marc walks in then and he decides to go with her. Selena agrees. They head out with Selena in front with her dagger, and money. Marc follows with the letters. They stop at the inn and Marc sends one of the Rogue to deliver the letter to her father, and another to deliver the letter to the convent. Before the man with her fathers letter leaves Selena notices that the man has another letter for her father. Marc also has another letter for Lord Wyldon but Selena doesn't notice.

"Who else wrote a letter?" Selena asks

"Once again, I can't tell you or the King would have a fit"

"Are you saying that my father is friends with the King of the Rogue, and has been getting letters from him"

"Did I say such a thing?" Marc asks with a twinkle of laughter in his eye. Selena sighs

"Fine, don't tell me now, but I'll know eventually."

"If you say so, My Lady" Marc replies bowing then he leads the way out. By mid- morning they are at the castle. Marc goes to the stable to talk to the hostler Stefan, while Selena takes the letters and approaches the guards at the gate. She tells them that she is there to talk to Lord Wyldon. After a half an hour she is lead in to Lord Wyldons office.

"Thank you for seeing me" She says bowing to him before sitting.

"Why do you want to see me? You are to young to work as a servant and I suppose you are a noble"

"That is correct, I have a letter for you from my father" Selena gives the letter to Lord Wyldon and she notices the other letter is for him too. After he reads the letter from her "father" he looks up.

"Do you really want to become a knight?"

"Yes" He is quiet for a long time and then he notices the other letter.

"Let me see that" He says Selena hands it over wondering whether Marc wrote it. After Wyldon reads this one as well he stands and looks out the window. After a long while he turns around again.

"I must talk to the King, I will send you the reply."

"Please send it to this address" She says giving Wyldon a paper with the address of Thomas's house ( she had asked his permission before she did so) And Wyldon gives it a glance before putting it on the desk.

"Goodbye, My Lord" Selena says bowing and leaving. Lord Wyldons servant leads her to the door and she hurries to the stable, following the way Marc had told her.

For the next couple of days Marc and Thomas both help her in little ways to strengthen her arms and legs and learn to defend herself. Marc walks around town with her in the morning. They walk the same route all over the town, to help her legs. Then at night Thomas helps her practice with her dagger. He faces her with his own dagger and teaches her little ways to keep her weapon in her hand. He also helps her by giving her a pole and facing her with a pole as well. Marc shows her different moves to use in little brawls and she learns them quickly, including dodging. After a week she has begun to do the moves with more ease adding the grace learned at the convent to the moves. At first Thomas is surprised by this but he adjusts. Finally the letter from Lord Wyldon arrives. After she has gotten back from her walk on Saturday she finds Thomas sitting at the table with the unopened letter. When Selena sees it she stops.

"Is that it" She asks Thomas. He nods and she hurries over opening it with her dagger. She reads it and sinks into a chair. She looks up at the two men and they se that she looks mad and happy at the same time. "He is giving me a 3 month time period to prove that I can stand the training for a knight."

"That's good"

"No it's not, that means that he still thinks a women can't be a knight."

"Well, that doesn't matter, you'll prove him wrong." Thomas says

"When does he want you to start?" Marc asks. Selena studies the letter.

"He wants me to go to the castle today, by noon" Selena looks at the boys again "What time is it?" Marc looks outside and then looks at her.

"You have at least an hour, maybe less."

"Then I better hurry" Selena hurries out of the room and up the stairs. She gets the outfits Thomas had given her, her riding boots ,combat boots she had bought, and her saddle bags. She then changes into a cleaner and nicer skirt and shirt. Marc and Thomas come in after a little while.

"Marc will walk with you and Feirce to the castle. Good luck" Thomas says shaking her hand.

"Thank you, I'll visit you as soon as I can" She says as Marc grabs her saddle bags and they go out.


	2. Chapter 2:The castle

Sorry names have changed so I am putting the same parts in again this starts before she goes to the castle, I think here I changed some little things...

"Then I better hurry" Selena hurries out of the room and up the stairs. She gets the outfits Thomas had given her, her riding boots ,combat boots she had bought, and her saddle bags. She then changes into a cleaner and nicer skirt and shirt. Marc and Thomas come in after a little while.

"Marc will walk with you and Feirce to the castle. Good luck" Thomas says shaking her hand.

"Thank you, I'll visit you as soon as I can" She says as Marc grabs her saddle bags and they go out. Selena saddles Feirce and leads him out of the stable. They go to the castle as fast as they can. When they get to the gate Selena shakes Marc's hand as well and he bids her luck. The guards let her in and a servant takes Feirce. Another servant leads Selena to Lord Wyldons office. As she is admitted the noon bell rings.

"Right on time" Wyndol comments as she comes in. She bows

"Thank you for accepting me this late in the year."

"In the letter I mentioned the three months trial"

"Yes"

"I want you to remember that that is all the time you may have unless you prove yourself to me and the other Masters."

"Yes, my Lord"

"Do you have the Gift?"

"Yes, my father forgot to mention it?" She asks, mentally kicking her self for forgetting to mention that.

"Yes, surprisingly, You'll be taking a class with the other Gifted pages."

"Yes sir"

"The pages are required to serve at banquets and to run errands for the lords and ladies."

"Yes sir"

"Good, now you are not to close the door when another boy is in your room or vice versa, and I will ask the older pages at supper if someone will sponsor you, they will lead you around the castle."

"Yes,sir"

"Now leave and wait in the hall for Salma, she will tell you anything else you need to know and answer your question."

"Yes, my lord" Selena bows and leaves the room. She only has to wait for a moment before a short thin woman with frizzy brown hair walked up.

"You must be the new girl" She says "I'm Salma"

"I'm Selena" Selena bows

"No need to bow to me, I'm only a helper for you pages. Come on" She heads down the hall and Selena follows. "Lucky for you" She says as she walks "None of the boys were informed that you were joining them, it was very short notice."

"Yes, it was"

"I suppose you don't have an attendant"

"No m'am"

"Alright, then I'll assign a servant to your room. The servants bring you hot water to wash up in the morning and get a fire going. They also do your mending , make beds, sweep, and other jobs. Don't play any tricks on the servants or you'll do it all yourself. "

"Yes ma'm"

"That's my room, come to me if you need supplies or special cleaning and sewing, or if your ill come see me." She says all this pointing at a door half way down the hall. "This floor is the pages wing the next floor up are the squires." They finally stop at a door about a third of the way down the hall.

"This is yours, your stuff should be in there, go ahead and unpack. I'm sure you can do that"

"Of course"

"Good, After supper I'll come in to check on you"

"Thank you"

"Don't thank me, I am paid to do this" Selena nods and Salma gives her a key.

"I have the only other key, so no one will be able to get in unless I let them in"

"Thank you ,Goodbye" Selena says as Selma walks away down the hall. Selena enters the room and closes the door, leaning her head on it for a moment. She turns and see her room is a nice little thing with a narrow bed, a bookcase, night table, and a desk. The desk is under the window and Selena's bag is sitting on the bed. There is a little room off to the side with a privy behind a door set in the wall. She unpacks the few things she has slowly and savors the fact that she is in the castle, and she is going to learn to be a page. When she finds that Thomas had stuck her pole from practicing with her stuff she picks it up and practices slowly, imaging that she is facing him. She then puts that away and takes out her dagger practicing that as well. Halfway through one of the moves she is startled by a knock on the door. She drops the dagger and hurries to the door. She opens it to see a young girl with short blonde hair pulled back with a leather thong. She is about 11 and is a little shorter than Selena, about 5'1.

"Selma told me you had arrived, what's your name"

"I'm Selena, who are you?"

"I'm Yuvonne of Queenscove, I'm the only other girl in this castle, at least the only one learning to be a knight." As she talks Selena studies her. She seems nice, a little fierce, her brown eyes with a hint of green that make her look really wise, mischievous and playful at the same time.

"Do you want to come into my room?"

"Sure" They go in and Selena picks up her dagger and takes a seat on her bed as Yuvonne sits at the desk.

"Your room defiantly looks better then mine did when I first came"

"What do you mean?"

"Some of the boys, had a problem with me becoming a page."

"That stinks, at least you can stay here as long as you want, I only have three months"

"Why?"

"Lord Wyndol is calling it a trial to see if I can stand it."

"Really,"

"yes" Selena is quiet for a couple of minutes. She draws her dagger and stands. "Mind if I practice" She asks Yuvonne

"Nope" Selena continues what she had been doing before. She goes through a couple of simple moves then as she works up her momentum she does some of the more complicated things that Thomas had taught her. When Selena makes a mistake and drops her dagger Yuvonne stands

"That was nice"

"Thank you"

"Oh yah, I forget to tell you, I'm going to volunteer to be your sponsor, so I could probably start now and help you get some of your clothes"

"Thank you" Selena replies putting her dagger away again. Yuvonne leaves the room first and Selena closes the door behind her locking it. Yuvonne leads the way to the tailors pointing out little things like where this staircase goes and what that door is. After Selena is measured and given her clothes, which is three changes of the pages uniform, three sets of practice clothes, and a coat for winter. She already had her own boots, for combat and riding, and she also had her own cloak. When her new stuff is put away she says goodbye to Yuvonne, who has to do some work, and practices the stuff taught to her by Marc and Thomas. When the bell finally rings, loudly, for supper Yuvonne meets Selena outside her room and leads her to the dining commons. Yuvonne takes her to a stack of trays, plates, napkins, and cutlery. After grabbing some Selena follow Yuvonne through the line. When they have food Yuvonne leads the way through the hall to where a small group of boys are sitting. As they walk Selena hears the word being passed that a new girl has arrived. She hears some of the boys make nasty comments before she ignores them and pays attention to Yuvonne.

"This is Selena everyone, Selena this is Tain, Nathaniel, Edmond ,Clarc, and Hale their all pages. "

"Pleasure" Selena says bowing

"Forget the honor stuff nice to meet you." Tain says Selena sits on the edge of the group as Yuvonne sits by Edmond far away from Selena. After the prayer everyone starts eating. Selena eats slowly thinking about all the people and watching them. When everyone was almost finished Wyldon stands.

"As I am sure everyone has noticed, we have a new page, she will be here for only 3 months but as tradition says she needs a sponsor, any volunteers." Yuvonne stands

"I'll be her sponsor Lord Wyldon"

"You Yuvonne"

"Yes, my Lord"

"You know what to do then"

"Yes, My Lord" A bell rings and everyone stands. Selena follow everyone, and dumps her food. Yuvonne leads her back to the pages wing and Selena goes over to her room. She lights the candles with her gift then relaxes at the window, watching the birds in the courtyard. Awhile later Selena changes into her night clothes. After she scrubs her face she climbs into bed and goes to sleep.

The next morning she wakes up before the bell. She washes her face and changes into another skirt and shirt set, taking her dagger. When she is all dressed she ventures out of her room, looking for anyone who is awake. Eventually she asks a servant to direct her to where the dawn worship was. After the servant has walked her there she walks all the way back, meets Yuvonne ,and walks there again. They talk on the way and sit together. After Lord Wyldon asked to see her. She walked with him to the stable where, after being asked to, she lead the way to Fierce. Wyldon inspects Fierce and turns to her.

"You could either use this horse or choose another one, considering the fact that you won't be here long"

"I would like to keep using this horse, Sir" She says.

"Fine, do you have a tack for the horse"

"Yes sir."

"Then saddle him" Selena takes down the tack and quickly saddles Fierce, making sure that it is correct. Wyldon inspects it then nods.

"Unsaddle your horse and groom it. Don't forget to clean the tack before coming in, you'll have to get your weapons tomorrow."

"Yes sir" Wyldon leaves and Selena takes the tack off slowly. She cleans it just as slowly then brushes Fierce while talking quietly to him. When she is finished she searches for Yuvonne and runs into someone. She turns around to say sorry and sees a tall boy with black hair pulled back in a pony tail, and dark brown, almost black eyes. There is a boy behind him.

"Sorry.." She starts to say and the boy behind the black haired one says

"Do you know who you just walked in to?"

"No, and I don't think I should" Selena turns again and sees another boy blocking her way.

"Do you think you are above us, Girl" the boy asks

"Above swine like you, yes" She replies. She hears one of the boys behind her move forward and she moves quickly to the side, narrowly missing the fist that had been aimed at her head.

"Now do you think you need to know who I am" The black haired boy says moving toward her. The other two boys trail behind him a little.

"Not really, but I'm guessing that I don't want to know at this point, considering the fact that I don't try to learn the name of every pig I walk into." The boy makes a moves for her and she ducks punching him in the gut. He falls back and his two buddies move up. One , who has dark skin like the Bazhir and the other has brown hair. The brown haired boy makes a move to punch her and she dodges it gracefully, then she dodges the kick from the Bazhir, jumping over the boys leg. Finally the black haired one got up, and without Selena seeing got behind her.

"I really don't like girls" He says kicking her in the back. Selena falls forward onto her stomach. The brown haired boy flips her over with his foot and when she goes to sit up the Bazhir puts his foot on her neck.

"I think you need to learn how to treat those older, and more respectable than you, Girl" The black haired boy says moving around so he can hit her better. As he does that she slips her hand to her dagger and draws it. When the black haired boy goes to kick her she grabs his foot with one hand and cuts the Bazhirs leg. The Bahzir moves away howling about his leg and the black haired boy tries to twist his foot away. Selena sits up twisting it the rest of the way so he falls. She quickly gets up and goes around his body and hurries to her room, stopping to clean the dagger on the grass before she sheathes it. When she gets to her room she locks the door behind her and sits against it laughing for a couple of minutes. When she is done laughing she goes into the privy and washes her hands and face. She changes into a cleaner outfit (still a skirt) and leaves, making sure none of those boys are around. She goes to Yuvonne's room, to ask her about her where her classes are. A moment after she knocks Yuvonne opens the door.

"What happened?" Yuvonne asks looking at her neck.

"What do you mean?" Yuvonne leads the way to her privy and Selena looks in the mirror. She gasps and put's her hand to her throat. Her throat is starting to bruise badly, and it is already purple.

"Damn" Selena says quietly. She turns and sees Yuvonne is mad.

"Tell me now" She says

"I'm no tattletale" Selena says.

"It's not tattling if you aren't talking to Lord Wyldon." Yuvonne replies

"Fine, but it is my business" Selena replies and puts her hand to her throat. Her hand glows for a moment and then the bruise is gone.

"Sit" Yuvonne points to the bed and Selena sits down. Yuvonne pulls her chair over to the bed.

"Tell now" Selena explains to her what happened, slowly, making sure to describe the boys well, "That stupid idiot" Yuvonne says when Selena finishes

"You know him"

"Yah, his name is James, his two little cronies are Hazar, and Vaughn"

"Really, I'll remember that next time" Selena says with an evil twinkle in her eye.

"Who taught you the moves you used on them." Yuvonne asks

"My friend" Selena says

"Any chance I can meet your friend?"

"If you can find him" Selena slyly replies

"Let me guess, he is a rogue"

"Right you are" Selena says smiling.

"So why did you really come over here?"

"Oh, I wanted to know if you had any free time to help me around"

"I don't really, but as your sponsor I'm supposed to help anyway."

"Thanks Yuvonne" Selena says as they leave the room. They start down the corridor towards the dining commons. When they reach the end of the corridor Yuvonne turns to the right, but stops when she hears James talking loudly and heading in their direction. She stands still and watches James until he sees her.

"I'm not done with you" He says to Selena glaring at her.

"Good, because I'm not done either, James " Selena says

"Really, and what do you think you can do" He says walking toward her

"A whole lot" She answers smiling.

"Watch it James, she's got a good head on her shoulder"

"Do you really think you can hurt me?" James says to Selena ignoring Yuvonne

"Well I bet if you looked at your stomach you can see how much I've hurt you so far." James looks really mad again and starts toward her but Yuvonne steps in front of her but Selena pulls her back

"This is my business alone, I do need to learn this don't I?" Selena whispers quickly. Yuvonne nods as Selena steps forward.

"Let's start some trouble now shall we James" Selena says, pulling her dagger out. James steps forward cracking his knuckles, with his buddies not far behind. As Selena gets into position they hear talking from down the hall. Selena quickly puts her dagger.

"We'll try this another time" Selena says as Yuvonne takes her hand and pulls her down the hall.

The next morning Selena is woken by the bell and almost falls out of bed, it being so loud. She gets up and when someone knocks on the door, opens it. A servant walks in with a pitcher of hot water. He puts the pitcher on her desk.

"Good morning" Selena says

"Good morning to you to young page" The man answers tiredly before he begins cleaning the hearth. Selena watches until the servant notices.

"You had better get ready or you'll be late" He says motioning to her pitcher.

"Oh right" Selena takes the water into the changing room and washes up. She comes back into the room to get her outfit and sees the servant is finished making a fire.

"If you need anything just ask me" The servant says as Selena takes her practice clothes. When she is all done changing the servant has gone. Selena belts on her dagger and makes sure her hair up. When she gets to dining commons she grabs her food then looks for Yuvonne, making sure to avoid all the boys who are trying to trip her. When she finally spots Yuvonne she goes to join her. This time she sits by Yuvonne and listens to the others talk. When they are heading up to throw their things away Selena makes sure to ask Yuvonne about her schedule.

"Just follow me, I'll show you where to go, and if you can't see me follow Nathaniel, he has all our classes, including magecraft."

"Okay thanks, so what do we have first"

"First we get to work with the Shang masters" Yuvonne says as they approach the first yard. Selena sees a woman and a man. The woman has pale, intelligent eyes and short cropped tight curls. The man is tall, with black lively eyes and black hair cropped short on the sides but long on top.

"I see we have someone knew today" The man says watching Selena walk up with the others.

"I'm Selena" She says bowing to him.

"I am Hakuin Seastone and this is Eda Bell." He says

"Nice to meet you" Selena says

"Have you ever been taught by a Shang warrior" Eda asks

"No Ma'm"

"Then she's with you today Hakuin" Eda says calling the other kids to her.

"I guess well start with the basics" Hakuin says, beckoning her over. "First I'll teach you to fall"

"Fall?" Selena asks

"Yes, you need to know how to fall so you don't hurt yourself"

"Oh"

"Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes Sir"

"Okay watch closely" Hakuin falls slapping the ground with only a little force so Selena can see how he stopped himself. He stands again.

"You need to slap the ground as you hit and roll"

"Like this" Selena says. She falls forward and slaps the ground a little early, so her roll is off to side.

"Hit it earlier" Hakuin says as she stands again.

"Okay" She does it again and this time she does it correctly. Hakuin is nodding when she stands again.

"Okay, next move." He says "Lets see how you do with me throwing you" He gives her his hand. She takes it and Hakuin gently throws her over his hip. As she falls Selena remembers to slap the ground and roll.

"Good, next" They go on like this until the bell. Then Selena meets up with Yuvonne and they move to the next yard. There Selena meets Obafem Ezeko, Who after pairing her up with one of the older boys, gives her a pole and instructs her in how to use it. Some of it Selena had already learned from Thomas, so by the bell she had caught up with the rest of the new pages. At the Archery range Wyldon tested her with the bow, having her shoot at the targets with the long bow quickly. Luckily she had always been a fast shot so she was right up to speed with the other pages. At the bell Yuvonne immediately asked her where she learned to shoot, and Selena explained. When they got to the stable Selena saddled quickly and led Fierce out of the stable. She waited for Yuvonne then they led their horses out to the field. After the riding master inspected Fierce she went aside with the riding master so he could see how well she handled the horse. He was nice enough to help her learn how Fierce wanted to be told his commands, instead of teaching her to kick him in the side, like her old riding master wanted her to do. After riding Wyldon informed Selena that she was to bath in her room so she ran with Yuvonne back to their chambers. Selena washed quickly and put on her afternoon outfit, leaving her morning one on her bed.

"Aching yet" Yuvonne asked when she met Selena outside in the corridor.

"Only a little, luckily" Selena says, grimacing as she reaches up to fix her hair. Yuvonne smiles and they head to lunch. After lunch Yuvonne leads her to reading, writing and math, which are easy for Selena because she learned that stuff in the convent. Then they go to History and law of the realm. Everyone is happy in this class.

"Sir Myles teaches this class" Yuvonne says sitting by Selena

"Really, The Lionesses adopted father."

"The one and only" Selena is happy about this and when the class finally begins she relaxes and participates as much as anyone else. Then they go to the study of plants and animals, taught by Lindhall Reed. After that Selena goes to Mage craft, lead by Nathaniel. At Magecraft Selena finds she is a little better off than they expected her to be, but she is still far behind. After that Nathaniel leads her to etiquette, taught by Upton Oakbridge. Selena knows all the etiquette from the convent but still is behind. After she changes and puts her work away Selena meet everyone else at supper. After supper she joins the others in the library for homework.

The next morning Selena is aching all over but she ignores it and tells everyone that she doesn't feel any pain. Of course they don't believe her but they go along with it. When they get to the Shang Warriors field Selena expects to go work with Hakuin to catch up, but he has her work with the other first year pages. After that Selena works with the other first pages at the poles. At Archery she works with the older pages at the far target, where they work with arrows of different weights. Then at riding Wyldon assigns an older page to help her get a new saddle, with a high front and back, reins, double girth and breast collar. After the page shows her how to put it all on she joins everyone else and is given a lance by Wyldon. The same page, Gregory as she learns his name is, shows her how to position the lance and use it. Then Selena works with the other new pages and attempts to hit the quintains. After three tries, in totally missing the quintain, and lots of the pages laughing, Selena hits the target. To her surprise a sand bag hits her in the back and she almost falls out of the saddle. She glares at all the pages who are laughing and does it again, this time hitting the circle on the target. For the rest of the morning she surprises everyone by hitting the target almost every time. Finally they head back to the stable and Yuvonne congratulates her on learning so quickly. Yuvonne shows her how to clean her equipment and they run back to their rooms to take their baths. All the teachers are surprised by her work as well and as everyone congratulates her she says grumpily

"Hurting all over is not the reward I was looking for" Everyone laughs at this and after supper they keep sneaking a little comment in here and there about her muscle aches.


	3. Chapter 3:Another week

For the rest of the week Selena works at the first year pages pace. She gets to know everyone; Tain with his brown hair and amber eyes that perfectly match his sly rebel like nature, Hale with his blonde hair and caring blue eyes who is always worrying, Nathaniel with his whatever attitude which he always flicks his shoulder length brown hair around to make known, Clarc with his deep green eyes and short black hair that totally show his dreamy character, and finally Edmond whose shortness makes him the joke of the group but is everyone's confident. The same week she learns from Yuvonne about the pages earning their keep when Gregory starts to make it a habit to have her get the many things he forgets. Of course she takes her time so she is late all the time and gets the regular punishment. By the next week though she is bored so she keeps going and she works at the second year page pace. Everyone is surprised, but they all like the fact that she is stunning all the teachers with her quick learning. By the end of her 3rd week there everyone is either annoyed with her, because she is better than them, or they ask her to help them so they can catch up. At the same time James hears how well she is doing and gets mad, thinking she is trying to show off or prove she is better than the boys. After supper on Friday night, when she leaves the dining hall later than the other pages because she had to clean up her tray off the wall ( someone finally tripped her), he waits for her. As Selena heads down the hall to the pages wing he blocks her way.

"Do you think you belong here now, just because all the teachers like you."

"Me belonging has nothing to do with whether or not someone likes me"

"Then you still have a lot to learn from me"

"No, I think I learned all you can teach me, at least I don't believe pigs can teach me anything more than the fact that their stupid." As she says this she acts like she is trying to think, then she shrugs her shoulders at the last part and turns around. Right when James lunges for her she leans to the side and helps James over her hip, making sure he slams his head into the wall. When the other two lunge for her at the same time she rolls out of their way so they hit each other. "You really should know by now that I am faster than that" She taunts wagging her finger at them as they get up and face her again. All three go at her at once this time and she dodges James, getting a punch in the stomach from Hazar and a couple of punches on the arm from the other boy. James gets a punch on her neck, the force throwing her against the wall and, because of where he hit her, stunning her for a moment. The boys take the moment to start beating her together and when she gets her bearing she starts fighting again, kicking them and doing some of the brawl moves Marc showed her. She also makes sure to block herself as much as she can. Finally when she is starting to get tired some of the servants break up the fight. After Selena heals her worst bruises Wyldon calls her to his office.

"I don't think I mentioned this before, but you are not supposed to be fighting" Wyldon says when she has arrived and is standing in the traditional stance for questioning.

"Why do you mention it now, Sir?" Selena asks.

"Because I have been informed that you fought with three pages."

"I haven't fought anyone Sir"

"Then how did you get those bruises."

"I fell" Selena says, remembering Yuvonnes advice to stick to tradition.

"I will not take you lying to me, Who did you fight with?"

"I didn't fight anyone Sir"

"Tell me the truth or I will send you home" Wyldon says

"That is the truth Sir" Selena says meeting Wyldons eye. Wyndol studies her for a minute before he starts writing something. Selena waits for him to finish before she speaks.

"What is that Sir?"

"It is a letter to your father, explaining why you are going home."

"Why are you sending me home?" Selena asks trying to stay calm "My trial time is not up."

"Like I said, I do not like fighting" Wyndol rolls up the letter and holds it out. Selena shakes her head

"I am not leaving Sir, I was not fighting"

"I am sure you believe that you weren't but I don't, now just take this letter and go pack your bags."

"No Sir, I will not pack my bags, If anything I will go straight back to my room and act like nothing happened, because nothing did." Selena bows to Wyndol "By your leave, of course" Wyndol studies her face again then says

"Go, and don't forget to muck the stables for the next month and a half." Selena bows again and leaves, hiding a smile.


	4. Chapter 4:Who?

For the rest of the week and the ones following Selena runs into James little group on and off but both groups always split before any serious fights occur. The next week, Which is the 3rd week of December, It snows. Selena loves the snow and she wakes up early every morning just to sit in the courtyard in the middle of the snow, an stare up at the sky. After a couple of days of doing this she catches a cold, that she can't get rid of. After a week, she starts to feel tired all the time, and the cold gets worse, but she works harder to fight off the feeling. Yuvonne and the others in their little group try to convince her to go to Selma or to Duke Baird. She refuses and avoids them, trying to convince herself that she doesn't need a healer. Whenever a teacher sends her to one of the healers she calms her cough and goes back to class. By Tuesday she can barely get out of bed, but she still does. Of course this is the first day that Yuvonne doesn't accompany Selena from the stables to their chambers so Selena takes the chance to walk, instead of doing her regular run. After a couple of minutes of walking Selena feels dizzy and she has trouble breathing. She launches into a coughing fit, leaning over and trying to breath. She collapses to her knees as the coughing continues. When she finally catches her breath, everything is spinning so much. She tries to stand but collapses to her knees. She lets herself slip into unconsciousness as she feels another coughing fit coming on.

When she wakes up she is feverish and she sees the people in the room clearly but can't recognize them. She drifts into sleep again, on and off as people come and go, either talking to the people in the room or just coming in and out constantly. When the fever finally subsides a little Selena realizes that she is in her room. When she goes to sit up the whole room spins and she lies down again slowly. As she lies down someone rushes over to the bed

"Selena" Yuvonne cries giving Selena a small hug

"What's going on?" Selena asks tiredly, trying to look over Yuvonne to see who else is in the room.

"You've been sick for a whole week, everyone has been worried"

"Like who?" Yuvonne pulls away.

"Well all your friends and teachers for one"

"Really?" Selena says softly, leaning back into the pillows more, and closing her eyes. "That's good"

"Even the Lioness was worried" Yuvonne looks to see how Selena will react to that and sees that she is asleep again. Yuvonne sighs and walks over to the door. She opens it and, after motioning the first page she sees over, she asks him to inform Duke Biard and Lord Wyldon that Selena was awake for a little, and aware of her surroundings. The boy hurries off, and Yuvonne closes the door again.

When Selena wakes up the next time Duke Biard is in the room as well. She sits up a little as he walks over.

"It's good to see your conscious, you still have a fever though," He says this as he checks her forehead. Then he starts preparing a cold cloth for her head as he lectures her "What were you thinking pushing yourself like that, and according to your friends you were making it even worse by sitting in the snow, You know you shouldn't do that sort of thing to your body." He puts the cloth on her head

"Who found me?" She asks quietly, her eyes closed "Was it Yuvonne?"

"Actually it was Yuvonne" He says "She carried you on her back, to your room, then after changing you she came and got me."

"Oh" Selena responds quietly looking out the window, she notices after a moment that all the snow is almost gone. "What happened to the snow?" She exclaims sitting up.

"Lie back again, it's regular for the snow to come and go."

"Oh, Good" Selena says leaning back again. "Thank you"

"For what all I did was watch you, Allana did all the actual healing"

"What?" Selena sits up again. "Why would The Lioness heal me , I wasn't …"Selena trails off.

"Actually you were almost on the brink of death, another couple of minutes outside and you would have been."

"When did she arrive?"

"The morning you collapsed" Selena is silent again

"That's enough for now, just go back to sleep" Selena nods and lies down, falling asleep quickly. The next time she wakes up she waits to make sure no one is in the room then she quietly gets up and slowly changes into a skirt, checking the time. It is a little before the last bell, before bed, so Selena heads out the door heading down the corridor to the library. She heads in and watches everyone stare at her

"Miss me" She says quietly

"Are you okay now?" Someone asks

"As well as I can be at the moment"

"Your not supposed to be up are you"

"Nope" Selena replies leaning back on the wall.

"Idiot that's what got you sick in the first place" Tain yells.

"Cool it, I just wanted to say hi."

"And now you did so just go back to bed, you still have a fever." Yuvonne says walking over to her.

"So"

"SO" One of the boys yell, obviously distressed.

"Oh shoosh" Yuvonne says leading Selena out of the room. Just as Selena is all changed and settled in bed again someone walks in. When she sees who it is Selena hurries to stand but is stopped by Yuvonne, who after hastily finishing her bow, puts her hands on Selena's shoulders.

"Get back in bed" Yuvonne says glaring into Selena's eyes

"Yes Mother" Selena says grumpily as she sits down again and does a half bow.

"You should have stayed in your bed, I spent all week healing you and I don't want to do it again." Allana says as she walks across the room. She helps Selena settle in, checking her temperature in the process. "Your fever has gone done, like Duke Biard said" She shifts her position and motions for Selena to lie back. "Now relax while I check your lungs."

"Why do you need to check them?"

"You almost coughed them right up ignoring your cold like that"

"What do you mean?" Allana sighs

"You were coughing too much for your lungs to handle it, now lie still" Allana puts a hand above Selena's chest. After a moment it glows a deep purple with Allana's gift and Selena sees it seep into her and then go back to Allana. "Okay, your lungs are healing fine, and they seem to be working right, Can you breath regularly?"

"Yes"

"Good, then you should be fine after your fever goes away."

"How much longer should that take?"

"At the most a couple of more days"

"Oh," Selena shifts her position and closes her eyes. "Thank you," She says after a moment before she drifts to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5:He knows?

The next morning after Duke Biard checks her temperature and tells her that her fever is low enough for her to eat, Selena is given some food and left in peace. She settles herself by the window and when she is done eating she quietly watches the birds. After a servant takes her dishes she washes her face and changes into her winter practice clothes. She heads out of the room and goes to Lord Wyldons office. Luckily he is there and she is called in.

"What is it?" Lord Wyldon asks

"Did you contact my father when I got sick?" Selena asks getting right to the point.

"Yes, and I knew you had lied from the beginning"

"What, how.." Selena remembers the other letter she had delivered for Marc. "Was my father told before now too"

"Yes, I wrote to him after you brought me the letter, you actually copied his writing style well"

"Thank you Sir" Selena says a little uncomfortable with the compliment. "Am I allowed to stay then"

"Yes, The King agrees that you should have some kind of punishment but he says you can stay, as long as you keep working"

"Thank you Sir" Selena bows and turns to go

"Selena"

"Yes" She turns

"I hate to be the one to tell you but…your brother Cale is dead"

"What?" Selena whispers shocked

"He was killed by Spidrens,"

"How did you find out?" Selena says after a couple of minutes.

"Lady Allana informed us of it the day you collapsed, that's why she was here to help you"

"Are the Spidrens dead"

"No, the pages are going to be working with Allana's group to kill them"

"Good" Selena whispers softly to herself "Will I be joining them?" She asks

"If you can get enough of your strength back"

"Yes Sir, may I join the other pages today?"

"Is your fever gone?"

"Yes" Selena lies

"Then you may"

"Thank you Sir" Selena bows and leaves.


	6. Chapter 6

She slowly heads outside, and finds everyone working at the poles. She joins the first year pages and starts working hard to drive out her thoughts. Eventually Yuvonne notices her and hurries over to stop her. She makes her sit and relax.

"What is with you are you trying to bring your fever up?"

"No" Selena says trying to catch her breath.

"Then what is it"

"I'm just trying to build my strength up again"

"Why?"

"Lord Wyldon has given me permission to join you to hunt the Spidrens"

"Why?"

"I'm a page too I deserve to go."

"Please don't tell me your not going just for revenge" Selena is a little mad that Yuvonne knew but she ignores the feeling

"I'm not" She replies

"Good" Yuvonne sits by her "Then wh.." Selena cuts her off

"Everyone said we were twins, we looked so much alike" She is staring straight ahead "we were close"

"What?"

"If this had happened to me" Selena looks at Yuvonne "He would have at least stabbed one of the Spidrens, it would have been enough"

"But you don't have to"

"Yes, I do, I owe him that much" She is silent again. After a moment she stands and walks toward the first year pages again.

"Wait, Selena" Yuvonne goes in front of her "Just take it slow okay, we aren't heading out until the day after tomorrow"

"I will" Selena walks over and begins the exercises. Yuvonne watches until she is sure that Selena is taking it slow then rejoins her group. The rest of the day passes quickly with Duke Biard surprised to find her fever gone by supper. Yuvonne is surprised too but Selena explains that she slept through most of her classes. The next day passes just as quickly with Selena having gained most of her strength back but she is completely silent.

When they head out the pages wake early and saddle their horses. They follow Allana's group of the Kings own for the next couple of days. The whole time Selena is silent, riding alone. Whenever they stop she immediately does her part and then practices with her dagger. When someone tries to talk to her she answers with as little words as possible, even to the knights. Yuvonne decides to just watch her every night to make sure she is okay. One of the nights Selena goes to bed earlier than everyone else and when Yuvonne comes over she hears her quietly crying. Yuvonne puts a comforting hand on her shoulder then leaves her be. The next day, around midday, they finally find a trace of the Spidren's. Lord Wyldon instantly splits the pages into groups with the knights. After that everyone is given a staff and the pages are instructed to hold off the Spidrens and to call for help, not attack them. Selena makes sure she has her dagger on her and takes a staff as well. After that everyone split up to search with their groups, one group staying with the horses.

Selena's group travels quietly to the west following one line of web. They are deep into the woods when one of the pages step on a Spidren trap. The other pages in the group quickly start cutting the page free as Selena turns to watch for the Spidren that the nest belongs too. The knight turns the other way as he talks through his necklace to Allana to inform her of what had happened. After a couple of moments, Selena hears a noise coming from the right. It is really soft but she studies the trees in that direction until she notices the faint shadow of the Spidren hovering just out of her view. She takes a step that way and meets the Spidrens eye. Before the knight pulls her back to the others, not realizing what she was looking at, Selena sees the spidren smile and wink at her.

Selena is almost overcome with fear before she realizes that her group is moving back to camp.

She hurries to catch up with them, silently scolding herself for getting scared so easily. When they get back to camp she goes over to Fierce and tries to make herself relax as she brushes him again. When Yuvonne comes back she tries to get Selena to talk finally, but she refuses. Yuvonne gives up after awhile and moves to the fire to have some supper. Selena stays with Feirce far away from the camp, still trying to calm herself.


	7. Chapter 7

Leading Fierce back she hears a noise above her in the tree. She looks up and sees a Spidren watching the camp. She watches the Spidren and after a moment it looks down and spots her. It is the same Spidren from before and it smiles at her again as it moves towards her. Selena quickly gets on Fierce and goes to ride to the camp. The Spidren drops down in front of Fierce and the horse rears up. Selena loses her balance and falls off. Fierce runs back toward the camp as Selena stands and the Spidren moves toward her. Selena quickly pulls out her dagger as she tries to skirt around the Spidren. Selena notices some of the pages trying to calm Fierce and talking to Lord Wyldon before the Spidren shoots web in her way. Selena tries to cut the web as the Spidren cuts the web off her belly and moves behind Selena. As Selena turns around to face the Spidren it cuts the back of her legs. Selena falls as pain shoots up her leg. When she goes to get up again the Spidren moves forward and goes for her legs again. Selena dodges it awkwardly, half falling, and gets the cut across her head. The Spidren pushes her back into the web as she stands again, and covers her with more web.

"I usually wait until my prey has been in the web for awhile before I eat them, but I didn't wait for your brother so I won't wait for you" The Spidren says as she moves forward. Selena tries to say something but all she can do is mumble as the Spidren moves forward.(the web is totally covering her mouth.) Selena realizes as the Spidren moves forward that she still has her dagger in her hand. She quickly cuts any web that she can. All the cutting frees her right arm and she holds it still as the Spidren moves closer. When the Spidren is about to bite her Selena stabs it in the head. Its eyes roll back and it gives a last shriek as it falls back with Selena's dagger still in her head. Selena hears everyone coming and she struggles to pull the rest of the web off. When she moves her head she feels a sharp pain from the wound and she faints.

When Selena awakes she hears voices right above her. She opens her eyes and sees Lord Wyldon and Allana talking, or rather arguing.

"She needs to get up, we need to find out what happened."

"No, she needs to sleep and I need to heal her now, those wounds are causing her too much pain, especially the one on her head."

"I'm fine" Selena whispers Allana and Lord Wyldon look down at her "You don't need to heal it, you need to watch for the other Spidrens"

"We have post set up don't worry about that"

"The Spidrens are watching to pick us off one by one" Selena says sitting up. She winces in pain but stays up.

"How do you know?" Lord Wyldon asks

"The Spidren that attacked me was watching the camp, they know exactly what your doing" Lord Wyldon and Allana look at each other for a moment before they hurry from the tent.

After they leave Selena looks around her carefully, trying not to move her head too much. She is in the middle of a small tent, and there is nothing in it besides the blanket and a lamp. Selena looks to her side and sees her dagger. Then Selena looks at her legs and thanks the Goddess that the Spidren had missed the vein in her leg. She uses her gift to heal her legs and stands. The whole room spins and Selena sits down quickly holding her head. When the room is mostly still she slowly puts her hand on the wound on her head. The pain is intense for a moment, and Selena almost faints, then the wound slowly heals. When it is mostly healed, Selena stops, leaving only a shallow cut, to save her energy. Selena stands again and, after picking up her dagger and putting it in the sheath, leaves the tent. She wanders toward the fire and sees a knight and a couple of pages standing with their spears. She taps one of the pages on the shoulder and when they turn she realizes it is Hale.

"Selena what are you doing? Are you okay now?" He asks

"See for yourself" Selena says showing him her legs then the top of her head.

"How come your head isn't fully healed"

"Because I need that energy for fighting"

"You healed yourself"

"Of course, do you know where Fierce is? And my spear" Hale nods and leads her to where the horses were moved. Selena hurries to Fierce and starts talking silently to him as Hale goes to get her spear. When Hale brings her the spear Selena goes back to the camp with him and sees Allana talking to the knight by the fire. When Allana notices Selena she goes straight to her

"What are you doing? You should be getting yourself bandaged up or something."

"What would they bandage?" Selena asks slyly Allana goes to answer and then stops and takes a look at Selena's head and legs. She sighs

"Fine, you can fight, just follow this guys orders carefully" Allana says as she walks back over to the other knight. A while later, there is a commotion from the far side of the camp and Allana hurries over there with 2 pages. She comes back after a moment to report the situation under control. Suddenly Selena hears a sound from the trees behind her. She turns with her staff held up and sees some of the pages and a knight in the middle of a skirmish with 2 spidrens. She makes a move to help them when another page calls

"Ahead" Selena looks front-ward again as 5 Spidrens come closer to the camp, 3 in the treetops and 2 on the ground. Selena hurries forward with a few pages to engage those on the ground as the knight and older pages shoot the Spidrens in the trees. Selena cuts up the middle of one of the Spidrens with her spear as it tries to fight 3 other pages as well. When she turns to the other Spidren it is down with Edmond pulling out the spear that went through its neck, after his group had emerged from the trees. When the pages make sure the archers had killed the other Spidrens they move back carefully, weapons up. They hears the sound of fighting to their sides, and Edmonds group quietly moves toward it, but the others only watch their surroundings. When they reach the camp Selena relaxes by one of the archers. When she hears more Spidrens from the side she reaches for her spear but grabs the bow instead.

"Do you mind?" She asks the boy

"Nope" He says holding up his hand to show his bloody finger tips. Selena smiles as he drops his quiver, picks up her spear and moves for the tree with the other pages. She quickly nocks the arrow and steadies the bow as she sites on the first target. She fires and the Spidren falls from the tree, her arrow through its neck. She continues shooting for awhile, resting when no Spidrens are coming, until she realizes that there is no healer with her group but her. She quickly passes off the bow to the kid it belongs to and hurries to heal one of the boys who just got slashed across the chest. When he is healed she is about ready to collapse but more of the boys require healing as they grow tired. The knight, realizing what she is doing, orders her to sit by him with a bow and wait for the wounded to be brought to her. She does this happily, glad to rest a little. When the fighting finally slows a little and Selena is exhausted , everyone starts coming back to the camp. Selena drinks all of the water in her water skin and when she looks up from putting it by her feet someone hands her food. She looks and sees that it was Yuvonne and gives her a big smile before quickly eating it.

"I'm glad someone else eats faster than me after healing people." Yuvonne remarks. Selena blushes a little and smiles. After a couple of minutes, when everyone is back in the camp, Selena starts walking around the camp to help heal people with Yuvonne.

Yuvonne is just as tired as she is so they only help where it is needed, though most of the worst things had been taken care of already. When they get back to their original seats they sit down and lean a head on each others shoulders. They are both almost asleep when someone puts a hand on each of their heads. Energy courses through them and they look up to see Allana smiling.

"I think you two need to go to bed, Now" She says. The two girls stand, and after giving her a small bow walk away to settle down. The minute they lie down they are as tired as before and they instantly fall asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

A couple of days after they arrive back at the castle the Mid winter festival starts. Selena is very nervous but she learns that she is only handing food to the older pages she is happy again. When it comes time to exchange present Selena gives money to everyone, for she had no time to go shopping this year. Everyone else gives her little things like sweets and Yuvonne gives her a flower hair pin. When January comes around the schedules change and after the snow falls, again, the pages work indoors on swords. Selena is okay at the sword but when she asks to borrow one of the older pages sword she can't control it, she can barely lift it. Selena decides to work on swords after homework every night. As she starts to get more control her friends help her with little hints. Eventually by the end of January, she can control the sword like any of the other first year pages. Around the second week of February, Selena realizes that since the brawls at the beginning of December, James and his buddies hadn't bothered her. Selena thinks it was good luck or a sign that the Gods may be happy with what she is doing until she realizes James was watching her. At classes he is always watching what she is doing. By the next week, Monday, she thinks that he is planning something, and her instincts tell her to watch herself. When she mentions at supper to Yuvonne that she is going to the woman's bath James quietly turns to Hazar and Vaughn, whispers something watching her out of the corner of his eye. Tain advises her to watch herself, glancing at James and his friends. The others add their own remarks but Selena brushes them off.

"I'll be fine" She replies to all their remarks "I'll bring my dagger okay" She cleans up and heads back to her room. After she grabs her bathing stuff and her dagger, she heads off. She doesn't notice anyone following her so she relaxes. When she gets to the baths she puts everything in her reach and gets in. After she is finished washing and looking for a maid with her towel she remembers that she hadn't seen any maids when she entered either. She hears someone walking toward the door to the baths and she hopes that it is a maid, or other ladies. She settles down in the water and watches the door. When the door opens she sees Hazar walk in

"What are you doing in here?" Selena asks angrily moving toward her stuff. Hazar just smiles at her and gets to her stuff first, taking her dagger and pushing her clothes into the water.

"Put them on, I don't think anyone would want to see your ugly body" He says watching her. Selena glares at him and turns. She lifts her hand out of the water and tries to perform a summoning spell. Suddenly she hears a splash and before she turns Hazar has the dagger against her neck and he has pulled her hand under the water holding it to her side.

"I really didn't want to get wet" he says "But now that I had to you get to come naked" He starts walking backward to the steps, keeping the knife against her throat. As he reaches the steps he goes to turn. Selena grabs his head with her free hand and uses his momentum from turning to throw him over her shoulder. He slams his back into the steps hard and slides down them under the water. Selena grabs her dagger, checking to see if he is unconscious as she pulls his head above the water. She dives under the water for her clothes and puts them on with her back to the door and Hazar. When she is fully dressed again she hits Hazar on the head again and hurries out of the bath. As she steps out of the room a hand moves into her view and whips around her neck. She grabs the persons arm and flips them over her shoulder. As she takes a step forward to see who it is she hears a noise from behind her and when she turns the boy she had flipped over her shoulder slams into her side. She makes a move to slice at the boys arm but before she does he is knocked off her by the another boy and they start rolling along the floor, totally engaged in their fight. She sits up and looks down the corridor as she hears more footsteps and sees Yuvonne with Nathaniel, Edmond ,Clarc, and Hale. When the two boys are pulled apart by the new arrivals she sees that it is Tain and Vaughn. She kicks Vaughn in the stomach before she speaks

"Don't say a word, just grab Hazar" She jerks her finger toward the bathing room "And get, or I will talk to my Lord, Honor or not" Vaughn complies and hurries to carry Hazar away. When they are gone she turns to the others

"And where did you come from?" She teases

"What no thanks?" Clarc teases back. They all smile at Selena in a sly way before Yuvonne takes her hand.

"You need to change don't you" Yuvonne says looking at Selena's clothes. Selena laughs and smiles

"Of course" She responds before they all head off down the hall.


	9. Chapter 9

Selena is happy after this for every moment she has known her friends. They help her when James confronts her later that week and together they beat him silly before hurrying away. Selena thanks her friends many times over and all they ask is for her to keep helping them with their work, which she does. Before they know it April rolls around and everyone passes. Clarc becomes a squire along with Hale. Everyone is sad when they find Knight masters but gladly see them off. When all the knights come Allana arrives as well. Selena doesn't know it but Allana speaks to Lord Wyldon about her strong gift, and her healing talent.

By the end of May they are preparing for their summer trip. James is called away to his home for the summer, and Selena finds out that this year they are going to her home.

"You recall my lessons on the Scanra war from earlier in the year" Sir Myles asks them all a couple of days before they are due to leave.

"Yes, Sir"

"Then you remember also how the border is still being cleaned up."

"Yes"

"Well lucky for you your job this summer is going to be helping keep the Manor safe from all the leftover fighters"

" We knew that" One of the Kids exclaim

"True, but did you know how bad it was"

"Just a guy here and there right"

"Nope, it's a lot worse, but you won't have it that bad"

"Bad is an understatement" Yuvonne says a couple of weeks later when they arrive at the Manor. The far fields are smoking from recent fires and the pages can see an ongoing battle in the distance.

"Hurry It up" Lord Wyldon calls from the front.

"All the same it's home to me" Selena says

"That's right Galador is your home right" Nathaniel says

"Yep" Selena says smiling. They head inside and Selena shows the way to the stable as Lord Wyldon and the Shangs head inside the main building up the stairs. When all of the pages have a stall Selena quickly cleans Feirce and tries to find Yuvonne and the others. As she gets closer to the door she sees a young girl about 13 dismounting a dappled gray horse. She is wearing robes like the mages only with many colors. She is traveling slowly down the stable looking at all the stalls for an empty one. A middle aged mage is behind her still mounted.

"Do you need a stall?" Selena asks the girl as she walks closer.

"Yes please" the girl replies tiredly. Selena leads her to an empty stall and watches as the girl struggles to unsaddle her horse.

"Would you like some help?" Selena asks the girl

"Why not" the girl replies as Selena moves into the stall. When they are all done the girl holds out her hand to Selena

"Thank you, my name is Haley" She says

"Your welcome, I'm Selena" They shake hands and Haley nods

"If you'll excuse me" The other mage says walking into the stall "Haley needs to rest now"

"Not really Blaine, you know I need to get used to using this much energy" Haley says

"You used a lot more energy than you think" Blaine says as he walks Haley out of the stall giving a polite nod to Selena. Selena watches them go smiling a little to herself. 'He seems so protective of her' she thinks as she heads to the door of the stable again.

"Selena" Tain calls as she passes "Do you know where the others are?" He asks finishing up what he is doing and walking out of the stall.

"No clue"

"You guys" Nathaniel yells as he hurries over with Yuvonne, and Edmond in tow.

"Found them" Selena mutters Tain laughs a little and they all head out of the stable. Selena leads the way inside and upstairs. Selena stops at her room and she changes, giving Yuvonne an outfit as the boys go to their rooms and change. They all meet outside Selena's room and head to her parents office. After Selena introduces them Selena talks to them for awhile as the boys explore with some of the other pages. Then she has supper with her parents and meets up with all the pages again. After they spend a little time together they all go to bed.

In the morning after Selena has had breakfast with her parents she runs into Blaine in the hall.

"Your the page we met last night" Blaine inquires

"Yes"

"Would you mind waking up Haley and getting her food, she needs to eat something before she helps with anything." Blaine asks Selena.

"Sure" Once Blaine walks off again Selena changes her direction and heads to the room a servant points out to her. As she approaches the room the door opens and Haley walks out.

"Morning Selena what are you doing here"

"Blaine sent me to bring you to breakfast"

"Oh thats cool" Haley says as they start walking down the hall.

"So why are you here?" Selena asks

"I could ask you the same"

"I have no clue, I was told that I was needed here, to help" Haley says

"Oh" Selena says "We're here for our annual summer trip, we go to a different place every year and this year we came here to help"

"I see" Haley says . They are silent for the rest of the walk to the mess hall and after Selena shows Haley where to get some food and where to sit Selena leaves. Selena heads to the stable and cleans Feirce slowly. About an hour later a servant tells Selena to go to the Conference room. When Selena walks in she sees Buri, Blaine, Yuvonne and Hayle.

"You called" Selena says bowing like the pages do.

"Take a seat" Buri says indicating a chair

"I have heard that you girls are exceptional at healing" Buri inquires once Selena is settled.

"Yes" The girls reply

"Do you think you could help regularly with the healing?"

"But where are the healers" Yuvonne asks

"They are all over, but a few of them will be here in a couple of days" Buri smiles "You won't be alone Yuvonne"

"Good" Yuvonne says with a little relieved smile.

"Is that all we will be doing?" Selena asks

"Don't worry you'll have your own action, you might have to go right to the field to help."

"Oh"

"Haley here" Haley waves at the girls trying to act happy "Will be teaching you some healing techniques"

A couple of minutes later the girls are in the hall, having been kicked out when some soldiers appeared.

"Would you like to start now?" Haley asks the girls

"Sure" Yuvonne replies. They head outside the walls and Haley asks Selena to lead them to the head healer of the town. After a hurried conversation with the healer Haley and the girls start to work on the soldiers already brought in. Haley shows the girls how to mend arrow wounds and they try it themselves. After they wander through the wounded soldier and the two girls tend to arrow wounds as Haley takes care of critical wounds. After a couple of hours Haley tells the girls to get some food and go to bed, making sure they promise to meet her in the morning. The girls do just this glad to be able to sleep after all the healing they were doing.

In the morning Selena meets Yuvonne for breakfast and while the other pages decide what they are doing (they could protect the outside wall or the inside wall) They head to the healers hut again. They immediately are put to the quick and easy work while Haley hurries around doing the harder wounds again. When Haley stops for a moment Yuvonne and Selena jump right in and heal the wound the rest of the way. Haley decides to have them take care of some of the worse wounds as well. By the end of this day they are exhausted again but many people are healed. This goes on for a couple of more days and then a healer arrives from the castle. Haley just disappears and Yuvonne and Selena learn to help the new healer ,Neal, who is really a knight but he has enough healing skills to help. Selena talks to Neal a lot and both her and Yuvonne stay with him healing until late. Of course they both want some action but they are needed. A week after Haley leaves Selena is talking to one of the soldiers who just arrived early that morning. He is babbling but Selena gets some info out of him.

"A Scanra mage… little Mage… she's going to be…" The man is silent as he struggles to talk

"Wait! What little mage? Do you mean a little girl" The man tries to talk again "Just nod" He nods

"When, tomorrow" He shakes his head "Today?" He nods again and Selena starts looking around frantically. "You" She says pointing at a young girl who was helping take care of the men "Can you take over here, just soothe him" She says hurrying off. She runs straight to the main house and into the room where Blaine and Buri are having a conference.

"Haley is out in the field, and she's in trouble" Selena says in one breath before Buri and Blaine can say anything.

"What do you mean?" Blaine asks standing

"A soldier said something about a Scanra mage and Haley then he said 'She's going to be' but he couldn't say anything more."

"Anything else" Buri asks as Selena takes a breath

"He said it's going to happen today"

"I better go, If it's like the soldier said Haley may need help"

"May?" Buri asks

"She's a lot stronger than she looks but she pushes herself too hard" Buri just nods and Blaine hurries from the room.

"You should get back to the healing tent, thank you" Buri says kindly to Selena. Selena bows and obediently goes back.

Late that evening Blaine rides into the tent with Haley.

"Is she okay?" Selena exclaims rushing over to help take Haley off Blaines horse.

"Yes, She's just sleeping and she only has minor injuries." Blaine says as he helps Selena steady Haley on her shoulder

"Good" Selena says as Blaine dismounts and then picks up Haley (so she is leaning her head on his chest).

"Can you show me a bed for her?" Blaine asks

"Sure" Selena quickly shows him a bed and after he lays Haley on it. When Selena has her all settled Blaine leaves and Selena gets back to helping Neal.


	10. Chapter 10

For the next three days Selena and Yuvonne watch Haley (She tosses and turns A LOT) on and off. Mid-day on the third day Yuvonne finds Selena and tells her that Haley woke up. Selena hurries to finish what she is doing but is given another job. As she is working on the next person there is a big explosion. Neal asks Yuvonne to take his place in helping one of the people and goes to investigate. 15 minutes later he comes back to tell them that the Scanra now have mages and they are attacking with about 250 foot soldiers. Selena is really worried at hearing this and fears for her friends but then she finds that all the pages were being brought inside the walls. Neal gives the girls a break as they finish up with some of the soldiers and after Yuvonne and her get some food Selena goes to the top wall.

She sees Haley part of the way down and moves beside her, following her gaze. She sees that Haley is watching one of the mages, who is camped out very close to the edge of the field. (The field is about 0.25 miles from the wall) Selena looks beyond the mage and sees the rest of the Scanra force not much farther off, the farthest the Scanra are is 2 miles from the wall. Selena looks at the mage again

"Really annoys you doesn't it, he could probably be killed from here but that is unfair, like its not part of the rules" Haley cuts her off

"See that mage who is talking into his hand , Does he looks like he is looking at me as he talks?" Selena looks and sees the mage glance their way.

"I don't know, Maybe it just looks like that from where we are"

"Maybe" Haley doesn't sound too reassured

"Did you eat yet?" Selena asks trying to distract Haley

"Yes"

"Have you seen Charmer yet?"

"No" Haley says "Maybe I should go see her"

"I'll go too, you can meet Fierce"

"Okay" Selena takes Haley's hand and gently pulls her toward the stairs. After Selena brings her to Charmer then introduces her to Fierce she leaves Haley at the healers tent while she goes to hang out with Tain, Nathaniel, Edmond and Yuvonne. They go to the page quarters and talk for awhile before Selena takes out her dagger and pole.

"Lets practice" Selena says tossing Yuvonne's pole to her.

"Good Idea" Tain says as he gets his pole. The other boys follow suit and everyone takes turns pairing off. About an hour later, when the bell for the 9th hour rings, the pages are all told to go to sleep. Selena decides to spend the night with the other pages. When everyone is almost asleep there is a sudden commotion outside the walls. When some of the pages try to go outside they find Lord Wyldon standing there.

"Go back to bed, they're just trying a night siege."

"But won't our soldiers need help"

"No, the walls are very sound, they will not crumble"

"But.."

"Just go back to bed"

"Yes Sir" All the pages reply as they hurry back into bed.

Selena stays awake until she realizes that it is quiet again. She sneaks over to the door and sees nothing but fog falling over the manor. Selena takes a closer look at the fog and realizes that the fog is made by magic. She tests the fog with her gift and realizes that it also has dampeners for the gift. Selena hurries toward the main house as the fog moves closer. She runs inside and straight upstairs to Haley's room. She bursts into the room and leans over breathing hard.

"Selena what's wrong?" Haley asks hurrying over to her.

"..Dampeners in..the fog.." Selena says between breaths.

Dampeners?" Selena nods. "Oh no, I have to tell Blaine" Haley says standing.

"Wait" Selena says looking up at Haley "Is there any wards you can put to stop it?"

"I don't know, that's why I have to ask Blaine."

"Let me go with you."

"No just stay here, I'll be right back" Haley heads for the door

"Why? You'll need more protection than me"

"What?!" Haley whips around and looks at Selena "What do you mean?"

"You can't use your gift so if you run into some soldiers…."

"How could soldiers get over the wall?" Haley says taking a couple of steps toward Selena.

"I don't know, maybe they just climb it or something"

"But what about the soldiers?"

"What soldiers?" A voice says from the doorway. The girls turn and see a Scanra mage clothed in red walk through the door, followed by Scanra soldiers.

"There should be tons of soldiers how did you get past them" Selena asks stepping forward.

"They were all confused by the fog" The mage states. He glances at Haley "Are you a mage?" He asks looking her over carefully

"Why do you ask?" Haley says walking towards the fireplace, with Selena next to her, and seemingly poking at the fire.

"Answer the question"

"I see no reason too" Haley says as she stands and faces the Scanra again. The mage looks closely at her.

"She's the one" He says over his shoulder to the soldiers "When I give the word take her"

"We're not that stupid" Haley says calling her gift to pull the fire into a ball in her hand "I suppose you have a dagger?" Haley says quietly to Selena

"Yes" Selena replies drawing her dagger. The mage starts laughing

"You think you can take down 10 guards on your own" He laughs some more and the soldiers join in.

"I believe I can, do you" Selena says to Haley

"Yes I do" Selena ducks around the mage and starts attacking the soldiers. She gets one on the throat as he is laughing and the other in the gut when he goes for her, while Haley attacks some of the other soldiers, sending them flying among other things. Selena moves for another soldier when one soldier gets behind her and moves to stab her. Haley sees this and quickly burns the guy, and Selena turns around and stabs him. Selena moves for the other soldiers who were now cowering away from Haley. When the men see Selena moving toward her they all get up and move for her at once. Selena moves to the side of the group and moves right in. She gets sliced across the stomach as she cuts one soldiers throat, then someone cuts her left arm as she turns away from them to stop another guy from cutting her leg again.

As this is going on the mage moves toward Haley calling on his own gift "You really are a nuisance,

"Don't I know it" Haley says taking a step toward the mage.

"I would just kill you here and now if it wasn't for the fact that I am supposed to bring you back alive." He says angrily

"What?" Haley asks a little puzzled. "Bring me where?" She asks

"You'll find out soon enough" He says using some powerful magic. Haley quickly puts up a shield and then drops it just as quick before she attacks him back. Then Blaine bursts into the room with some of their soldiers.

"You men help her" He says pointing to Selena who is still fighting the soldiers, and now sporting a couple of wounds. The soldiers move over quickly and take down the rest of the soldiers as Selena moves toward the mage fight. As she moves forward the Scanra mage is slammed against the wall and knocked out by Haley( You know she used her Gift).

"Can you guys tie him up, someone can question him later?" Hayle says sinking onto her bed. As the soldiers take care of that and pull out the dead bodies Selena walks over to Haley, pain coursing through her body with every step.

"Are you okay?" She asks silently as Blaine oversees the soldiers movements.

"Yah, but I still want them to get out of my room sometime tonight" She replies jokingly.

"Well be out of here in a couple of minutes Mam" A soldier says dragging out a body.

"What did that mage mean when he said that he was supposed to take you alive?" Selena asks quietly leaning against a bed post.

"I don't know" Haley stares blankly around her with a puzzled look on her face. "Don't tell Blaine or anyone else though okay" She says then she looks at Selena. "Selena sit now let me see your wounds."

"No it's okay" Selena says, shaking her head slightly, feeling dizzy and nauseous at the same time. Her eyes flutter closed and she collapses.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hello there sleepy head" Yuvonne says as Selena sits up, rubbing her eyes.

"Hi, what's going on" Selena asks as she listens to the battle outside. she looks around and sees that she is in Haley's bed, and Haley is seated next to her.

"What is she doing?" Selena asks as she realizes that Haley's eyes are closed and she is sweating heavily.

"She's keeping the dampners lifted so the healers can work."

"How's the battle going? How did they even get over the wall"

"Apparently they didn't go over the wall, someone let them in, but he disappeared."

"Oh, and what's going on now."

"The soldiers are fighting outside the wall, and we're waiting for the fighting mages to arrive."

"How long have I been asleep?" Selena gets out of the bed, with Yuvonnes help.

"Since you collapsed until now" Yuvonne says

"Obviously," Selena says as they leave the room. "A day or half a day, How long?"

"Only half the morning, you were just exhausted."

"Good" They go down to the mess hall and Yuvonne gets them some food.

A couple of days later, the fighting has calmed down, for some more mages arrived to fight with Tortall. During the days when their was fighting Selena and Yuvonne help heal while the other pages help by shooting from the wall or by bringing new weapons to the soldiers when theirs break. The day everything calms down Selena thinks about telling Blaine what the mage said, for he had died in questioning from a secrecy spell. She decides that, for now, Haley should learn how to defend herself in close combat. She asks Buri and Buri agrees that Selena can teach her a little, in their spare time. Selena agrees and joins the other pages for an afternoon practice, where they begin to learn some extra skills.

When Selena hears that Haley is awake at lunch the next day she hurries over to join her. As she walks over Haley gets up and hurries away, seemingly angry.

"What happened Blaine?" Selena asks as she reaches Blaine

"I told her that she was leaving on a ship in a couple of days"

"Why? And why aren't you going with her?"

"The Mages at the academy want her to go back, though they didn't specify why. And I need to stay here and help bring order back to this place."

"But what about the other mages, can't they do that, and Why would they ask for her to go back."

"I don't know, I was told by one of the other mages at the academy that she had been called back." Selena looks at Blaine questioningly then asks

"When does she leaves?"

"Late Thurday"

"So she has 3 and a half days"

"Yes" Blaine replies and Selena turns and hurries off. Hurrying outside Selena stands in the courtyard for a moment, before deciding that Haley would probably go to the stables.

"I don't want to leave Charmer, I like it here. And I actually have something to do" Selena hears Haley say as she hurries through the stable.

"And I actually have friends" She says softly.

"Then spend your last couple of days with your friends." Selena says walking into the stall. She gives a Haley a quick hug and then takes her hand. " Come with me" She leads her out of the stall and towards the pages barracks.

"Why are we going in here?"

"I'm going to teach you how to sword fight"

"What?!"

"I was going to teach you gradually over the summer, but since your leaving I am going to teach you now." She takes out two practice swords and hands one to Haley.

"Go ahead, swing at me" Selena says taking a guard position.

"Okay" Haley says uncertainty as she swings awkwardly at Selenas side. Selena blocks it.

"First of all, we need to fix your grip."

For the next two days Selena continues teaching Haley. First she teaches her to lunge, then she teaches her some swings. But too soon Thursday arrives. Selena and Haley grab a quick lunch and they have a quick practice in the courtyard before Blaine comes out.

"Haley you need to pack up, your going to be riding to the boat, and you need to start out soon"

"But.." Blaine just walks away. "I don't want to leave."

"It's okay, just come to the castle once the summers over. I'll see you there" Selena says giving her a hug.

"Thank you" Haley says, and she goes inside. Selena goes to the pages barracks and searches for awhile before grabbing a sword and sheath. She hurries back out to the courtyard as Haley walks out with Charmer, saddled and all.

"Wait" Selena says and she hurries over.

"What?" Haley asks bewildered

"It's for you" Selena says holding it out to her.

"I couldn't, you bought it didn't you"

"Yep, it's a goodbye present"

"But I don't have anything for you"

"Your promise to visit me is enough." Selena says handing over the sword. Haley fingers it

"Thank you" She says softly

"Your welcome" Selena says then gives her a small push towards the other soldiers "Now go" Haley nods as a tear falls down her cheek and she walks away, pulling Charmer behind her. At the gate she mounts and rides away, the soldiers behind her.

Once the soldiers are gone Selena wanders off, not wanting to talk to anyone. Wandering up onto the outside wall Selena watches the Scancran for awhile, then wanders to the front wall, watching the road.

When the soldiers come back they are leading Charmer. Going down again Selena waits in front of the gates as they come in.

"Thank you.." Selena says quietly as she takes Charmer from them, for she had told Blaine that she would care for Charmer. After bringing him back into the stable, she realizes that she has some free time now. Going up to her room, she pulls out her embroidery and settles down on her bed.

"It's been a Long time since I did this" She says, laying it on her lap. She closes her eyes and the thread slips into and out of the cloth, of it's own accord.

"Well!" Someone exclaims and Selena opens her eyes.

"Hi mom, How are you?" Selena says watching her dark skinned mother walking over to her bed and sitting by her.

"Okay, a lot better now that I see you working on your Shaman Gift"

"It's been awhile so I'm not sure I can still do it."

"Why didn't you bring some thread with you, that's all you need. "

"I know, but…. Becoming a knight is a lot of work."

"When your having trouble sleeping you should practice." She looks down at the embroidery in Selena's lap. "Though apparently you don't need it." Selena looks down and smiles.

"I guess so" She says laughing.

"I'm so glad you can do this, since I can't teach it to the Bahzir anymore"

"I'm sorry we pulled you from your life as a Shaman"

"It was my choice, you know it, it has helped here."

"Have you been up on the wall?" Selena asks

"Certainly, there was no other way your father would let me help."

"Do you think we could go up their now?"

"Sure" The two smile at each other and leave the room, Selena's thread gathered in her hand.


	12. Chapter 12

For the rest of the week Selena helps with her thread magic, stationed on the wall with her mother and by the end of the week Selena can match her mother in speed once again, and she marvels at the depth of her mothers control, for she can joke with her husband and Selena as she hobbles a front line of attacking men with one smooth movement. Though there are barely any Scancra left to attack, since they suddenly up and left during the last couple of days.

Around then Selena learns that are the pages are returning to the palace before going home to enjoy the rest of their summer.

Having talked to Yuvonne, Nathaniel, Edmond , and Tain a few weeks before Selena found that all of them were heading home in various parts of Tortall.

Yuvonne had invited Selena to stay in Corus with her and her family, who are presenting Yuvonne's older sister at court, and Selena had already gotten her parents permission.

About 3 days after Haley leaves the pages set off for Corus, and Selena packs some new clothes, all ready for some fun weeks with Yuvonne, wondering how Haley was doing and if she was practicing with her sword.

Before she leaves Selena says goodbye to Blaine, and discovers that he is leaving a few days after the pages are, since the Scancra had left and the lands were healed again, to the best of his ability.

The ride back to Corus is uneventful and once they reach the palace and have some last instructions from their Lord they are free for the summer.

Once the two girls settle in with Yuvonne's family they decide to pay a visit to Haley, hoping to drag her away from the mages to have some fun.

When the girls finally find some time to visit, about a week after they had reached Corus, they walk straight into a shouting argument between Blaine and an old man who seems to be the head of the academy.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE ISN'T HERE!" Blaine hollars at the man.

"I mean that she never arrived when you say she should have. We had no knowledge that she was even coming back before this."  
"But Gilihan said..." Blaine trails off at the look on the old mans face.

"Blaine...Gilihan was thrown from the academy soon after you and Haley first left in May."

"What for?" Blaine asks, dangerously quiet.

"Suspected treason to the crown."

"Was he tried in front of the Magistrate?" Selena asks and both men look at the newcomers in surprise, unaware that they had an audience.

"No" the old man sheepishly answers, avoiding looking at Blaine.

"Why not?" Yuvonne asks.

"There was no proof, just our suspicion."

"If you suspected enough to throw him out you should have kept him for a trial, or at least searched for evidence." Blaine says

The old man just shakes his head. "There was no way he would leave any evidence where we could find it, and you know it."

Blaine just nods and slowly walks from the room.

Selena and Yuvonne hurriedly follow, all of them trying not to contemplate Haley's fate.

Once they leave the academy Selena and Yuvonne follow Blaine all the way to the castle, wondering what he is planning to do.

When he stops in front of the door to the Wild Mage they each have their suspicions.

"Yes." Daine says as she answers the door, a baby on her hip.

"I was wondering if you could help me find my student..." Blaine begins to say and Daine shakes her head.

"I'm sorry but I can't just go around finding friends or relatives, I am in service to the crown." Daine holds up a hand as Blaine begins to protest. "I could ask my friends to keep an eye out, but that is all."

"But-"

"Miss Daine." Yuvonne interrupts Blaine, stepping in front of him. "Haley could be in big trouble, maybe even with the Scancra."

A thoughtful look crosses Daines face.

"Do you mean Haley of Galla, the extraordinary young mage from the academy?" Daine asks. All three nod. "Why do you think she is in trouble with the Scancra?"

"Gilihan of Tyra, an old teacher of hers, apparently has her, and I believe he is trying to help the Scancra."

"Do you have proof?"

"Only the doubts of the mages who through him out of the academy under suspicion of treason."

Daine nods, looking over her shoulder into the room.

"Did you hear that Numair?" She says, and an tall, gangly man seems to materialize from the shadows.

"I heard, and I believe them. I'll take care of this." He says to Daine, then looks at the three outside his door then motions them to follow him. "I had a little chat with him about a month back," He begins as they follow him down the corridor, once he kisses Daine and she disappears. "when I found him conversing with some boatmen, who looked suspiciously like pirates. Since then I've been following him by honing on a piece of hair I managed to grab from him. It seems that he has been visiting Scancra for awhile. Until this I didn't think I could find any proof that he was working with them, but if he is trying to use Haley." Numair stops and looks at Blaine. "I had a chance to work with her before she actually began her training. She is almost as powerful as I was at her age." Selena and Yuvonne exchange worried glances, wondering if both men are thinking that this Gilihan would try to get her to use her Gift for the Scancra. "I am sorry that no one thought to keep a better watch on her."

"It is nothing for you to be sorry about. As her guardian I should have found someone to accompany her, at the least." Blaine says

Numair nods solemnly and continues walking.

"If he is using the pirates to spirit her off we may be able to plea to the king with just a ship to chase them down. If we can convince him that this Gilihan is up to no good than we can go even further and take an entire fleet."

Blaine nods and they are silent as they reach a set of doors.

"I'll call you to come in after I talk to him." Numair says to Blaine, then looks down at the girls "I'm sorry but you'll have to wait out here."

"As long as you hurry." Selena says, and Yuvonne nods in agreement. Numair nods and walks in, the doors closing softly behind him.

Sitting down in some nearby chairs all three sink into their thoughts, trying not to imagine Haley in pain.

After about an half an hour Numair comes back out and motions to Blaine.

Once he joins him it is only another 15 minutes until the two men come out

"We're going to search for them." Numair says. "Hopefully we're right, otherwise she could be at the bottom of the ocean and far beyond our help."

Both girls swallow deeply, sending up prayers to the Goddess for the protection of their friend.


	13. Chapter 13

Things move quickly over the next couple of days. Numair, Blaine and the girls take a navy ship silently out of Corus, following Numair's instructions, surprised when they can spot a ship farther out upon the water, apparently under the command of a very blonde man.

Convinced that the sailors are Scancra men the ship is joined by the rest of it's fleet.

2 days and 2 weeks after Haley originally left Selena's home the fleet overcomes the ship, appearing from under a fog conjured by Numair.

As the ships approach the waves grow a bit rougher and begin to shake the other ship as the fog disappears.

There are shouts of surprise and alarm as the pirates begin running around in a panic.

Selena spots Haley, and see that the two pirates who were holding her arms dropped them in a flash and ran for their boats, leaving Haley with a tall mage, blood dripping from both their hands.

At that moment a bridge is thrown between the two ships and Selena hurries across it and through the pirates and Scancran fighting the Tortallans, her eyes on Haley.

Haley seems to push herself back slowly, trying not to move too quick for some reason.

"Haley!" Someone shouts and Selena looks over her shoulder to see Blaine hurrying towards Haley. Haley moves to get up and Gilihan swoops down and grabs her arm, wrenching her to her feet.

Haley gasps, slipping into unconsciousness as Gilihan tries to slip a bloody bracelet onto her wrist.

Guessing that the bracelet is some sort of blood bond Selena hurriedly kicks it from his hand, catching it and stuffing it into her pocket as she Blaine slams into the man, grabbing Haley as she begins to fall. Selena gasps in horror as she realizes why Haley had fainted. Her body was covered with various cuts and bruises, and her arms were carved up by a flame design and the word 'Articulis'.

**(By the way, I'm trying to indicate that Gilihan is trying to blood bond her to him in a sense by using the bracelet. U remember that from what happened to Tris's brother.) **

"Can you do anything Selena?" Blaine asks, coming up. Selena looks around him to see Numair dealing with the mage he had knocked down.

"Just put her down, I'll take care of it, at least until the other healer is free. He does know what to do better than I do." Selena says.

"Okay." Blaine says, smoothing back Haley's hair as he lays her on the deck.

"First of all, she should probably sleep, at least for a couple of days……" Selena says, laying her hand over Haley's heart.

As soon as Haley is completely asleep Selena hurries to try to heal at least some of the cuts before Haley bleeds to death, wondering why that name had been carved into her arm.

When Haley is stable Blaine picks her up and Selena leans on him as the three of them return to the navy ship, finding Numair resting there himself.

"He really is to full of himself." Numair says, motioning to the unconscious Gilihan being shackled with spelled chains and brought to one of the cells on the ship.

A healer comes and takes Haley from Blaine, assuring Selena that she did all she could have at that moment.

Selena agrees, leaning against Yuvonne, who had helped heal some of the navy men when she was sure Haley was safe with Selena.

Blaine helps both of the girls below deck and makes sure their safely on their beds before letting them drift into an exhausted sleep.

Selena is surprised to awake in her regular page room, the bright sun shining down on her.

"Welcome back to the world." Yuvonne says cheerfully as Selena sits up.

"Why are you always awake before I am?" Selena asks

"I always awake with the dawn." Yuvonne says cheerfully as Selena gets out of bed and goes into the privy and dressing room to change.

As soon as she is all set both girls, wearing their practice clothes, hurry to see Haley, surprised that she is still asleep.

Talking to the healers Selena discovers that Haley is partially in shock. Not to mention trying to regain all the blood she lost.

Worried Selena asks to stay with Haley, and is told that she needs at least a day in peace.

Shooed away Yuvonne and Selena try to settle down but they can't stay still for more than a moment. Taking their bows and practice poles both girls go to the practice courts and work to their limit, trying not to think that Haley might not make it.

Exhausted the two girls take very long baths and have a late supper before retiring to their respected rooms.

The next day is a repeat of the one before, but they are joined by Blaine, who has a very good shot with the long bow.

The third day both girls are happy to be able to see Haley, but she is still asleep. Glad just to be with her they sit for awhile in silence, just relaxing as they wait for her to awake.

Sometime close to dinner Yuvonne goes back out to practice archery, bored and worried once again.

Bored as well Selena fetches her sword and returns to Haley's room, practicing some thrusts and turns.

She is startled when Haley suddenly sits up and pushes herself as far away from the sword as she can.

"Please don't hurt me…." Haley begs, beginning to cry. "I'll do what you want…. Just please" Haley cries, rocking herself back and forth.

"Haley! Haley calm down, it's me." Selena cries, the sun bouncing off her sword as she moves closer to the bed.

"No! Please!" Haley screams, pushing herself back farther. Selena quickly sheathes the sword and Haley begins to sob in relief as some servants hurry in, Blaine in their wake.

"I was right next door and I heard her screaming." Blaine says, hurrying to the bed.

"I was just practicing..." Selena says softly, ashamed that she hadn't even thought about how Haley would react.

Blaine just nods, gently moving Haley away from the wall.

"It's okay Haley. No one is going to hurt you." Blaine says soothingly as he lifts her like a child onto his lap.

"Blaine…" Haley murmurs, crying softly into his shirt.

Blaine rocks back and forth, gently stroking Haley's head as she cries herself to sleep.

"I'm sorry Blaine, I didn't realize..." Selena trials off as Blaine tucks Haley back under the covers.

"It's not your fault Selena, you didn't know."

"Did Gilihan confess or something?" Selena asks

"Yes, but I think it is up to her to tell you and Yuvonne."

Selena nods, glancing at Haley's tear stained face.

The next day the girls only have to wait until a bit before lunch for Haley to awake.

"Haley your okay!" Yvonne cries, jumping onto the bed and giving Haley a hug.

"I'm so sorry Haley!" Selena exclaims at the same moment as she gives Haley her own hug.

"Why are you sorry?" Haley asks, pushing the two girls off of her.

"I shouldn't have been practicing with my sword, not after what happened." Selena says, motioning to Haley's arms.

Haley glances at her arms, noting the bandages up to her shoulder. All that happened comes back to her in a flash and she shudders involuntarily.

"What happened exactly Haley?" Yvonne asks, but Haley just shakes her head.

"Haley.." Selena says softly, and Haley turns towards her. "Why don't you trust us?" Selena asks, studying her hands folded in her lap.

"I do, Selena.." Haley begins to protest, but Yvonne cuts her off.

"Then tell us what happened."

"I can't..."

Selena stands.

"Then I guess there is no reason for me to be here."

"What?" Yvonne says, surprised by Selena's reaction as much as Haley is.

"As a friend it would seem only right for me to listen, but if she won't say anything I can't help her." Selena says to Yvonne, then looks at Haley "And what you most need is to talk about it Haley, before it sticks to your mind and drives you mad."

"But-"

"No but's Haley. If I am your friend-"

"You are!"

"Then if I am to help you, you need to tell me what happened."

"Okay." Haley says softly, and the other two girls settle down again to listen and give their own advice, helping in the best way they could at that moment.

THE END


End file.
